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| Hamilton looks to take home the AL MVP (Cleveland Plain-Dealer) |
American League MVP: Josh Hamilton.
Followed by: Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera and Evan Longoria.
Despite missing nearly all of September, Hamilton wins this award in a run-away. He got 4 out of 5 first place votes (Ben P put Robinson Cano ahead of Hamilton) and took home our crown. Hamilton had a very similar season to Joe Mauer's 2009 MVP season and although Robinson Cano and Miguel Cabrera were very, very good, Hamilton was better. The Rangers went 21-6 in June and Hamilton hit .454/.482/.815 for the month with 9 HR and 31 RBI. MVP material, indeed. This was a tough race to pick, though, with many good candidates not even listed such as Adrian Beltre, Jose Bautista and Carl Crawford. But Cano, Cabrera and Longoria were the only competition that Hamilton really did have for this race.
American League LVP: Chone Figgins.
Followed by: Brandon Wood, and a tie for third between A.J. Burnett, Mike Cameron, Milton Bradley and Pat Burrell (Aaron Hill, Carlos Pena, Franklin Gutierrez, Garrett Atkins, and Matt Wieters also receiving votes).
It was a relatively close race between Figgins and fellow-AL West disappointment Brandon Wood, but Figgins huge contract gets him the "win" here. It really wasn't all Figgins' fault, but after being the one offensive free agent signing, he gets the blame which could have gone to Jose Lopez, Franklin Gutierrez, Casey Kotchman, or the rest of the Mariners historically anemic offense (minus Ichiro). Figgins was far from the worst, but a .259/.340/.306 line and highly negative UZR was far from what the Mariners were expecting when they gave him 4 years, $36 million (with an easily vesting option for another year). FanGraphs put Figgins worth at 0.5 WAR while Baseball-Reference was a lot more generous at 1.3 WAR. Either way, it's part of the reason that the Mariners have cleaned house in the clubhouse and have started to change around front-office personnel as well.
American League Cy Young: Felix Hernandez.
Followed by: CC Sabathia and David Price (Jon Lester also receiving a vote).
This was a dead heat with King Felix barely edging out Sabathia for a well-deserved win. I used to believe that a pitcher with 21 wins was always going to be better than one with a 13-12 record, but new statistics and understanding of the context of things like wins and ERA have made me understand that there is more to the picture. Hopefully other voters follow suit. Hernandez leads the league in ERA, strikeouts and innings, a rare feat that just adds to his tremendous season. Because he pitched for one of the most anemic offenses in baseball history (see LVP vote above) doesn't mean that he should have to suffer. I also think this vote will (and should be close) with a dominant Sabathia, David Price (good future for this lefty), Jon Lester (carried that Red Sox staff), Cliff Lee (18 walks all season led to an amazing 10.28 SO:BB ratio), Francisco Liriano (unheralded comeback), Clay Buchholz (disliked by Boston fans but stepped up in '10), Justin Verlander (quietly had another good season), and Jered Weaver (maybe most underrated pitcher in baseball) also getting some consideration (among others). It may not have really been "The Year of the Pitcher", but there were a bunch of really good ones with really great seasons. But in the American League, none were better than King Felix who should receive his crown.
American League Cy Yuck: A.J. Burnett.
Followed by: Javier Vazquez, Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Kevin Millwood (Jeremy Bonderman, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Josh Beckett, and John Lackey also receiving votes).
"Cy Yuck" is a term I'm stealing from ESPN's Jayson Stark. I'm not sure if he's the one who coined it, but I liked it enough to use it here. It was amazing that the Yankees made the playoffs with two of their starters making this list. Amazingly, Burnett and Shields both may make postseason starts for their teams--each with 15 losses and an ERA over 5. Ouch. Scott Kazmir was a complete mess (15 losses, 5.94 ERA, and only 6 quality starts in 28 tries), Javier Vazquez bombed most of the time in his return to the Bronx and Kevin Millwood was a pretty bad acqusition for Baltimore, but Burnett takes the cake as one of the worst Yankee starters of all-time. Glad he's only signed for 3 more years! *gulp*
American League Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz.
Followed by: Austin Jackson and Wade Davis (Brennan Boesch and Danny Valencia also receiving votes).
This was a really, really close race between Feliz and Jackson. And normally the guy who plays every day and gives you the defense and hitting that Jackson gave would run away with this award, but Feliz may have been just a smidge better. After pitching 31 innings last season and striking out 39, the expectations were high for the rookie thrust into the Rangers closer role and he delivered. 69.1 innings, 71 Ks, 59 games finished (most in the league), 40 saves (a rookie record), and a 0.880 WHIP. He held opponents to a .176/.246/.269 line and allowed one inherited runner to score the entire season. Most impressively, he converted 93% of his saves (even had 3 holds) and helped his team to the playoffs. Then again, you weren't wrong if you chose the former Yankee farmhand, Jackson, who fell off the second half (due to BAbip correction) but still had 181 hits, 103 runs and 27 stolen bases while playing a great centerfield in a big ballpark. But in the end, I think Feliz takes this one in a nailbiter.
American League Manager of the Year: Ron Gardenhire.
Followed by: Ron Washington and, tied for third, Joe Maddon and Terry Francona (Buck Showalter and Joe Girardi also receiving votes).
This was another close race, this time between the "Rons". Gardenhire took a team without Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan and guided them to the playoffs once again. Washington took a team that looked like he was going to lose in Spring Training (after cocaine allegations) and took a young ball club back to the playoffs for the first time in a long time. There's no bad choice here. I'll take Gardenhire, though, the man who was told in Spring Training that he wasn't going to have one of the best closers in the league and learned shortly after the All-Star Break that he was once again going to be without his MVP-candidate first baseman. While Washington got Cliff Lee, Bengie Molina, Jorge Cantu, Christian Guzman and others to help fill holes, Gardenhire got cast-off closers Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes. And they still dominated. Francona also deserves a lot of credit for how his team played through injuries, though with the Rons, I'm not sure he deserves any higher than 3rd place this season.
So how did we do? Did we leave anyone off you would have picked? Let us know below in the comments and check out our full results below:
| AL MVP | AL LVP | AL Cy Young | AL Cy Yuck | AL ROY | AL Manager | ||
| Ben W | 1st | Josh Hamilton | Mike Cameron | David Price | Javier Vazquez | Neftali Feliz | Ron Gardenhire |
| 2nd | Robinson Cano | Carlos Pena | CC Sabathia | A.J. Burnett | Austin Jackson | Terry Francona | |
| 3rd | Miguel Cabrera | Pat Burrell | Felix Hernandez | Josh Beckett | Wade Davis | Buck Showalter | |
| Jay | 1st | Josh Hamilton | Chone Figgins | Felix Hernandez | A.J. Burnett | Austin Jackson | Ron Gardenhire |
| 2nd | Miguel Cabrera | Aaron Hill | CC Sabathia | Kevin Millwood | Neftali Feliz | Ron Washington | |
| 3rd | Robinson Cano | Franklin Gutierrez | David Price | Jeremy Bonderman | Brennan Boesch | Joe Maddon | |
| Andrew | 1st | Josh Hamilton | Brandon Wood | Felix Hernandez | Scott Kazmir | Neftali Feliz | Ron Gardenhire |
| 2nd | Robinson Cano | Chone Figgins | CC Sabathia | Ryan Rowland-Smith | Austin Jackson | Ron Washington | |
| 3rd | Miguel Cabrera | Garrett Atkins | Jon Lester | A.J. Burnett | Wade Davis | Terry Francona | |
| Ben P | 1st | Robinson Cano | Chone Figgins | Felix Hernandez | A.J. Burnett | Neftali Feliz | Joe Maddon |
| 2nd | Josh Hamilton | Brandon Wood | CC Sabathia | James Shields | Austin Jackson | Ron Gardenhire | |
| 3rd | Miguel Cabrera | Matt Wieters | David Price | Kevin Millwood | Brennan Boesch | Ron Washington | |
| Ari | 1st | Josh Hamilton | A.J. Burnett | CC Sabathia | A.J. Burnett | Austin Jackson | Ron Washington |
| 2nd | Miguel Cabrera | Pat Burrell | Felix Hernandez | James Shields | Neftali Feliz | Ron Gardenhire | |
| 3rd | Evan Longoria | Milton Bradley | David Price | John Lackey | Danny Valencia | Joe Girardi | |
| Elissa | 1st | Josh Hamilton | Chone Figgins | Felix Hernandez | Javier Vazquez | Neftali Feliz | Ron Washington |
| 2nd | Robinson Cano | Milton Bradley | CC Sabathia | Scott Kazmir | Austin Jackson | Ron Gardenhire | |
| 3rd | Miguel Cabrera | Brandon Wood | David Price | A.J. Burnett | Wade Davis | Terry Francona |
Posts
I like the every day player especially since he blew away all the expectations and made that insane catch in what should have been a no-hitter for Galaragga. It is worth looking for the clip of Austin Jackson's catch---- then throw in this tid bit: only 4th rookie to get 180 hits 10 triples, 30 doubles, 25 stolen bases and 100 runs scored. Others to do so--- Shoeless Joe Jackson (If you built it, he will come), Juan Samuel(2nd in ROY to Gooden), Hanley Ramirez(won ROY). And probably second best lead off guy in AL after Ichiro.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, the AL Rookie Class was pretty weak this year (especially compared to the NL). And either one can win this thing. But here's how I look at it: Feliz was one of the best players (how many closers had a better year than him) at his position while Jackson was not (after slowing down a bit, I think there were probably 10 CFs I rather have than Jackson).
ReplyDeleteAlso, you have to remember, Jackson led the league in strikeouts. That wouldn't be so bad if he hit for real power, but he had only 4 HRs. If you want some history, Jackson is the only player in baseball history to strike out 170 times and not hit at least 13 HR.
I wouldn't be surprised or upset if Jackson won it, I just think there are more deserving candidates (heck, Danny Valencia may have had a better season)